Authors

Abstract

Planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) is used in many studies to identify antecedents of entrepreneurial intention. Three antecedents explain the propensity to carry out certain behavior according to a plan: attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. For entrepreneurial intention, researchers found positive effects for attitude and subjective norm, yet the role of perceived behavioral control is inconclusive with positive and negative and insignificant effects (Kolvereid and Isaksen, 1996; Punnet et al., 2007). According to Ajzen, perceived behavioral control indicates that when individuals have a strong feeling they can easily conduct a behavior, they think they have the knowledge and resources to act accordingly and consequently they will engage in such behavior sooner. Yet, we argue that this view contrasts the nature of entrepreneurship as Stevenson and Gumpert (1985) explain. According to Stevenson and Gumpert, the heart of entrepreneurship is in the propensity to act regardless of the resources controlled. In their view, entrepreneurship is driven by opportunities while the necessity of having resources is initially discarded and contrasts the perceived behavior argument. We extend existing literature of planned behavior with the nature of entrepreneurship.